Leininger Suggests State Property Tax

September 16, 1992|By Jacquelyn Heard and Rick Pearson.

Following up Tuesday on his controversial ``Robin Hood`` proposal for school funding, State Schools Supt. Robert Leininger offered the possibility of a statewide property tax, a concept that would only add fuel to the fire over paying for public education in Illinois.

At a Springfield news conference, Leininger said he would consider a statewide property tax to replace local real estate taxes for education.

Leininger floated the idea a day after he said he would support siphoning more state funds from rich school districts and giving the money to ones that need the cash more.

``If you really want to be fair . . . why not make it a statewide property tax?`` Leininger said. ``You pool all the money and distribute it back through the formula or some other way.``

``If the General Assembly was going to do something, if they had the will, the inclination or the desire to solve this problem, we wouldn`t have a problem.``

The problem is the likelihood of a statewide tax increase in any year, and especially in an election year, is practically unthinkable.

The new plan, like his earlier one to shift about $1 billion in state funds from wealthy, primarily suburban schools to cash-strapped districts, will probably have trouble getting legislative approval and cause more anger among suburbanites.

In his three years as state superintendent, Leininger has earned a reputation for fearlessness in causing ire. Even his press secretary says Leininger has been called the Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf of Illinois public schools.

``Since I`ve been on this job, I`ve had two criteria: Is it good for the kids? Is it fair?`` Leininger said Tuesday. ``Everything that passes over my desk is evaluated that way, and as long as I`m sure I`ve done that, it really doesn`t matter to me who`s mad at the moment.``

Leininger has been a strong supporter of a proposed state constitutional amendment, placed on the November ballot, that would force the state to pay the ``preponderance`` of the cost of a basic public school education. Currently, Illinois averages about 33 percent of per-student costs in the state.

His statements Monday and Tuesday, made in support of the amendment, also swatted at a notion revered in the legislature and the suburbs that suburban money should not prop up financially strapped schools, especially in Chicago.

Sen. Judy Baar Topinka (R-Riverside), an outspoken opponent of the amendment, said of Leininger: ``I just don`t know about him . . . all the dimwit schemes. All the silly proposals. He needs to get off of it and require all people and schools in the state to do more to help fund education, not just suburban ones.``

Still, Leininger appears to have more allies than opponents.

``You`ve got to ask yourself, `Is he being paid to win friends?`` said Mike Belletire, former assistant superintendent under Leininger. ``Or is he paid to try and get the best education for the children of Illinois.``

Leininger, 54, is paid $110,000 a year as state schools superintendent, a job he said he spent years longing for before the state school board selected him for the post in August 1989.

Since then, he has earned a reputation in the education community as a straight-foward, hands-on manager who, according to state Sen. Arthur Berman

(D-Chicago), is well-suited for a tough job.

``Once there was a young legislator, very smart. He advocated helping needy schools,`` Berman said. ``His opponents ran a commercial Downstate that showed a picture of a school bus full of black children in Chicago. The narrator said, `This is what your state representative voted in favor of.`

``That`s the kind of thing Mr. Leininger has had to face. I think he`s done a good job.``

Being aggressive in pursuit of change is something Leininger prides himself on.